In a class I recently took we discussed the issue of sending homework home with students whose first language wasn't English. This thought had never crossed my mind before but having done French Immersion for nine years the question made sense. For many years I did homework for which I had no access to help at home because of language barriers. I know that living in Saskatchewan means that I will have students whose first language is not English and I need to be accommodating and accepting of this fact. I believe that it is important to incorporate students' first languages into the classroom and especially into homework. But even though I possess these beliefs I am still left with the question of 'why homework?'.
One of my thoughts on homework that relates to my previous post on Why School? is that if students are in school they are there to learn about the world and share in experiences with their peers. So, if students come to class to do research and go home to do assignments what is the point if they aren't sharing with each other and learning from one another? I think it would be interesting if class time was related to doing work together and experiencing new strategies to learn while, when necessary research could be done at home. But I also believe that if we are teaching students how to be effective learners mass amounts of homework are necessary because in all honesty, what do young students learn from workbooks aside from how to repeat the answers they think we want to hear back to us?
Cheers!